RTNDA HARD NEWS FEATURE

Rhode Island Public Radio has spent three years tracking the condition of Grace Cemetery, the historic but rundown graveyard in a prominent location in Providence. Reporter Flo Jonic first covered the conditions back in 2008, when she discovered the fence broken in at least half a dozen places, scores of gravestones toppled, the ground strewn with trash and high weeds. When she returned three years later conditions were even worse. All the previous problems still existed and a not-so-recent wind storm left the cemetery littered with downed trees and limbs. This is the final resting place for Civil War soldiers, an early suffragette and the first Episcopal bishop of Rhode Island, among others. The expose' caused the city to fine the owner for negligent maintenance. The owner, Grace Episcopal Church, has since cleaned it up.